The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a method and device for displaying a three-dimensional view of the surface of a viewed object.
Video inspection devices, such as video endoscopes, can be used to inspect the surface of a viewed object to identify and analyze irregularity on that surface that may have resulted from damage or wear of the object. In many instances, the surface is inaccessible and cannot be viewed without the use of the video inspection device. For example, a video endoscope can be used to inspect the surface of a blade of a turbine engine on an aircraft or power generation unit to identify any irregularities that may have formed on the surface to determine if any repair or further maintenance is required. In order to make that assessment, it is often necessary to obtain highly accurate dimensional measurements of the surface and the irregularity to verify that the irregularity does not exceed or fall outside an operational limit or required specification for that object.
In order to determine the dimensions of an irregularity on the surface, a video inspection device can be used to obtain and display a two-dimensional image of the surface of a viewed object showing the irregularity. This two-dimensional image of the surface can be used to generate three-dimensional data (e.g., in the form of a map) of the surface that provides the three-dimensional coordinates (e.g., (x, y, z)) of a plurality of points on the surface, including in a region of interest on the surface (e.g., proximate an irregularity). In some video inspection devices, the operator can operate the video inspection device in a measurement mode to enter a measurement screen in which the operator places cursors on the two-dimensional image in the region of interest to determine geometric dimensions of the irregularity. In many instances, the contour of a viewed feature is difficult to assess from the two-dimensional image, making highly accurate placement of the cursors in the region of interest difficult. For example, when trying to measure the depth of a dent or pit, it may be difficult to determine, from the two-dimensional image, the location of the deepest point in the pit or dent.
In order to provide the operator with additional information about the region of interest, some video inspection devices offer a point cloud view, which is a rendered three-dimensional surface model of the viewed object in the image that can be maneuvered (e.g., rotated, zoomed, panned, etc.) about the origin of the field of view of the video inspection device, which is typically proximate the tip of the probe. When the region of interest is relatively small in comparison to the full image of the surface, or when the region of interest is far from the origin of the field of view, the point cloud view of the full image is not always effective in providing the required level of detail of the region of interest. In those instances, the point cloud view of the full image may lack sufficient detail and can become unwieldy as it is maneuvered about the origin of the field of view as the majority of three-dimensional data is irrelevant to the region of interest, which can be relatively far from the tip of the probe.
Another technique employed by some video inspection devices is the use of a point cloud view in which the three-dimensional surface model is colorized to form a depth map color scale. In the colorized point cloud view, each color is associated with the distance from the tip of the probe rather than using, e.g., two-dimensional image information associated with each point on the surface. This colorized rendering of the point cloud view of the full image makes it difficult to inspect small details in the region of interest due to the large area and range covered by the entire view. Therefore, there is a need to provide enhanced detail in the region of interest to enable more accurate inspections and measurements.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.